Armenia must withdraw from Azerbaijan

Armenia continues to illegally militarily occupy some 16 percent of Azerbaijan. On Nov. 12, Armenia, while holding its illegal military drills in the occupied Azerbaijani district of Aghdam, started to provoke the Azerbaijani military by flying its Russia-supplied Mi-24 military helicopters along the Line of Contact — a ceasefire line established in 1994.

Azerbaijani military, acting in full compliance with domestic and international laws and obligations, destroyed one of the Armenian military helicopters, which was illegally in the Azerbaijani air space.

I urge that you use all your influence to persuade the Obama administration in pushing the government of Armenia to do the right thing, to comply with four UN Security Council resolutions and withdraw all of its occupying forces from Azerbaijan, so that the war stops for good.

The yearlong tragedy that has been unveiling in Ukraine, and previously the war in Georgia, as well as elsewhere in the former USSR, shows how fragile peace can be and how pro-Western nations, such as Azerbaijan, have had an extremely difficult time since their independence in warding off military and security threats from various proxies, such as the anti-Semitic, anti-Western, pro-Iran and pro-Russian government and military of Armenia.

Illegal Armenian flights and military drills in occupied Azerbaijan must stop. Armenia must withdraw its military from Azerbaijan.